Chapter 40: Five Bucks

Lidia's POV:

I was still happily doing my homework when I got a text.

Ian: hey Lids... can i talk to u?

Me: course u can. What's up?

What's up? What hell? Why the hell did I do that?

Ian: well i just wanted to ask you...

Me: yea?

Ian: well maybe, if ur up to it... we could go get lunch or smt.

My eyes widened. No way. Is he- is he asking me out? Oh my gosh. What do I say? Oh my. I didn't know what to do. In that moment I forgot what Luke had said about dating. I really don't care. This could be my only chance and I'm going to take it.

Me: sure. If ur done w ur hw we can go get lunch? Like Saturday?

Oh my. I didn't just text that. I didn't just text that. Why the hell did I just text that? Im going to be in so much trouble. How do I delete texts?

Ian: sure

Oh. My. Gosh. Wha- I- oh my gosh. Wait- does he think I asked him over to like hook up? 'Cause I'm not ready for that. Especially after what Carl did to me. I'm such a fool.

I rushed upstairs and ran into someone. "Woah Pretty Girl, slow down." Sasha chuckled.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I gotta go. Bye." I said quickly and tried to walk past her.

"Not so fast. Why're you in such a hurry?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Uh no reason. Just uh, gotta do homework."

She narrowed her eyebrows. "Then why don't you have your bag?"

"I- uh." I couldn't come up with a lie in that moment.

She smiled. "Well Chica if I didn't know any better I would think your thinking about a boy."

My eyes widened. "Hush! They'll hear you!"

She smiled even wider. "So it is a boy!"

"Shhhh! Sasha if you don't be quiet I promise I-"

"Alright, alright. I'll be quiet," she agreed. I sighed with relief but that was short lived, "only if you tell me everything."

My jaw dropped and my face paled. "You're- you're kidding right? Right?" I demanded.

She shook her head. "Nope. In fact I'll go down there right now and tell Caden all about th-"

"Okay fine! I'll tell you! But it has to be in my room so come on." I huffed and grabbed her hand and dragged her from behind me.

I turned and locked my door and sat her down on my bed. She sat there with her hands in her lap, looking intently at me. "Well? Tell me!"

I sighed and told her everything that had happened from yesterday all the way to this point. "No way!" She squealed and grabbed my hands and twirled us around.

"Woah, Sasha maybe you should cal-"

"Never! My little sister just got asked out! I'm so happy!"

I gently pulled out of arms since I was about to throw up and laid down on my bed. "I can't believe this just happened. What will I tell Luke? The twins? Zack? Caden? I'm going to be in so much trouble!"

Sasha laid down beside me and sighed. "That's the hard  part. How to tell your family you have a boyfriend."

"He's not my boyfriend."

She smirked. "Not yet."

I playfully smacked her arm so she took one of my pillows and hit me with it. Instead of having flashbacks from mom and Carl, I giggled. I actually giggled.

And that is how we dirtied up my once spotless room.

Luke's POV:

"Fuck"

"What? What happen?" Caden asked.

"Luke you can't keep us in the dark like this!" Zack practically shouted.

I looked at each of them in the eyes. "I believe Curly has herself a little crush."

Their jaw's immediately clenched. "What?!" James barked.

"You're joking. You have to be joking. Who could she possibly have a crush on? I'll kill them. I'll literally kill them." Jesse ranted.

Caden didn't say a word as the gears in his clever mind began to turn. He finally joined the conversation and said one word. "Ian"

The Twin's heads snapped over to look at him. "Wha- no, no it can't be him. It's not him." Jesse explained.

"Yeah he's our best friend. That totally goes against bro code. Why-what- no. Just no." James poorly reasoned.

I put my hands behind my back and clenched them. "I'm afraid so."

Jesse's mouth was hung open. "Wha- I'm sorry how can this be so?"

I started to walk into the nearest living room so Lidia couldn't hear our conversation. "Well at the gala her and Ian danced with each other and it was starting to get very intimate."

"I think I'm gonna barf." Jesse said while holding his stomach.

"Well don't 'cause this carpet is expensive." Zack snapped.

Jesse made gagging noises and ran to the nearest bathroom. "Shit now I'm gonna barf." James gagged and followed suit.

It was the 'big three', as my dad called it, left. "What are we going to do about it?" Zack asked.

I glanced away from my fleeing brother's figure and looked at them. "Nothing. We will do nothing."

Zack's eyebrows narrowed. "Nothing?! But-but he's always at our house. She's- Luke!"

I raised an eyebrow in a daring manner. "She knows the rules and I doubt she'll have the courage to go against them."

Caden slowly nodded his head. "Yeah, yeah that's good. Wait- what if she does question them?"

I tilted my head and thought. Curly certainly needs more self confidence. I can tell she feels like she's in our shadow. She's also fourteen and will be fifteen in two months.

"If she has the guts to question my rules then I'll take back the less important rules."

Caden swiveled his head slightly in disbelief and responded, "What? Let me get this straight; she goes against your rules and you just get rid of them?"

"Not all of them. Just the less important ones."

"But if we went against your rules it ends in a punishment, but if she does, rules get taken away?" Caden asked in more disbelief.

I fixed my tie, scrunching up my nose at the smell of the dried blood. "Precisely."

"Might I ask why?" Zack quizzed.

"Because dear brother, Lidia needs to know that if she asks for something, we will not immediately shut her down. You can tell she feels like she lives in our shadows. It's about time she gains some of the White Family confidence." I explained.

He made an O shape with his mouth and they both walked away no doubt plotting to jump Ian. I made my way to my bedroom and sat on my bed. I am not one to procrastinate but getting in the shower does not feel ideal right now.

Reality dawned on me as I sat on my bed and stared at my wall. The little girl that I held in my arms for the first time all those years ago has a crush. I made myself promise that I wouldn't shed a single tear ever again after about four months of searching for Lidia. I didn't even cry at my father's funeral. So why does the fact of Lidia moving out and living by herself and loving someone else make a lump in my throat form?

I shook my head. That's ridiculous, she's only fourteen. Curly's not even old enough to move out. I should just focus on the present and deal with the future when we get there as much as I don't want to.

I threw my shirt off and before I forgot, I texted the boys and told them to not say a word about it and go on like normal. I tiredly walked into my en suite. Time for a shower.

Lidia's POV:

When I walked into school I'm not going to lie, I was nervous. It didn't help that-although they were doing a good job of keeping secret- my brothers were a tad bit angry. I didn't question it though. They probably just lost a street race and were being petty.

I saw Audrey standing by my locker. "Evan smoking weed under the bleachers again?" I asked her.

"Nah, some security guard caught him and some other kids smoking and his parents found his stash of weed hidden under his mattress. So not only is he grounded for two months, but he's also suspended."

"Huh, never would've thought he would be the first one of us to be suspended." I said.

She nodded her head. "Tell me about it."

Three periods went by boringly. I have homework for each one of them and Mrs. Gray had the audacity to give out a mini work book for us to complete by next Friday. It was thirty pages long. I have to do thirty pages of hard math. And to make matters worse, it was due in nine days. Great.

The nervousness in my stomach couldn't be contained so I pulled my best friend in the entire world, who was my first real friend and who would keep my secrets no matter what, into the bathroom. "Mind telling me why we are currently in the bathroom?"

I took a deep breath and recalled everything that had happened in the past eighteen hours.

"Woah." Is what she said when I finished.

"Yeah woah." I replied with her same astonished expression.

After about a minute of what I think of her thinking she looked up and smiled a wide smile at me. "Oh my god. My baby girl has finally grown up!"

I was took back by her words. "Slow down there, I'm not grown up."

She pushed me slightly. "Sure miss I-have-date-in-four-days."

I blushed. "I don't have a date. We're just hanging out."

She smirked. "Oh right, your just 'hanging out' on Saturday. Alone. Got it."

I playfully slapped her arm as we walked out into the empty hallway. "Stop it! We're not dating

and besides, when will you have a crush? Huh?" I teased.

She blushed slightly. "Oh my gosh. You have a crush! Tell me! Who is it?" I demanded.

"I'll tell you when Mrs. Gray decides to not give us homework over the weekend. Right now we're focusing on your date."

I huffed but walked into the classroom.

"Ahh Girls, mind telling me what's made you late?" Our teacher asked.

Audrey had lost her smiled and blush and put on her resting face. "Do you really want to know?" She countered.

Mr. Procment straightened his back. "Yes, yes I do."

Audrey smirked. "Well I was bleeding through a certain hole and my dear friend was helping me get situated. Happy?"

I was shocked and Mr. Procment was shocked and the whole class was shocked. "Ye-yes um. J-just to go your seats."

We sat and he restarted the lesson. I couldn't even focus because honestly, I was scarred and I'm sure the rest of the class was too. Why had I accepted her invitation to sit with her at lunch? Oh right, because I didn't have any other friends.

We walked to lunch together and much to our surprise, a group of kids whom I presume were touring the high school were sitting at our table.

Audrey was about to storm over there but I held her back and walked over there instead. "Excuse me ma'am? I'm sorry but this is where we normally sit." I asked the woman who was in charge of these middle school children.

She smiled kindly at me. "Oh don't worry hun, we won't be here tomorrow so you can have your table back tomorrow but right now we're using it. Okay?" She said. She obviously didn't mean any harm by her words-she actually seemed quite nice- but the way she worded it, made it sound offensive to some people, and by some people I mean my dear, dear friend, Audrey.

I smiled and nodded. "Okay, thanks!" I said over my shoulder as I walked back over to Audrey.

"So? What'd she say?"

"She said they're using it for today and today only. We'll have it back tomorrow, don't worry."

She scoffed. "Well then where will we sit? With the kids who pick and eat their own boogers?"

"Ew no. We'll just sit with my brothers."

She narrowed her eyes. "Me? With your brothers? I'm pretty sure James wants to strangle me."

"Well uh, that's okay because I won't let him. Besides, would you like to sit by Brian The Booger Kid?" I asked while crossing my arms.

She shivered in disgust. "No thanks. I guess we'll sit with your brothers." I smiled and interlocked our arms and walked over to my brothers table.

"Lidia? What brings you to our magnificent table?" Jesse asked when we stopped by him.

"We were wondering if we could sit with you guys since some other people are sitting at our table." I said.

"Oh Lidia look, there's no room. Okay we'll just sit outside. Bye!" Audrey tried to walk away.

I pulled her back while Jesse said, "No worries. I'll just kick some people out. Aye! Johnston! Camdin! Out!" He yelled and they scurried away.

I heard Audrey mutter 'great' as we sat down. Normally at this table no one was willing to socialize with me except Ian and Kenzer and Kai, but Audrey talked to me. Well she complained the whole lunch but at least I wasn't being ignored.

Ian would occasionally glance over at me and we would both smile and blush. Whenever that would happen though, either Jesse or James would drop their conversation and start to talk to him. I don't know why they would but I guess they just did.

After school Sasha dragged me up to my room and locked the door and begged for me to tell her what happened. I told her everything and she huffed saying that 'why can't your brothers just mind their own damn business' but after she saw my smirk added 'I'll give you five bucks to not tell your brothers'.

And thats called blackmailing, kids.

After Sasha left my room and dinner was served and I showered, when I looked in the mirror I surprisingly didn't see a filthy, rodent. It didn't mean I was all sunshine and rainbows but at least I didn't want to rip my skin off. That's part of healing right?

Dear Diary,

You'll never believe what happened the past few days! I went to my first big gathering for the company since I own like 6% of it. Ian was there and me and him did the waltz! It was magical. It didn't last long though. I saw one of Carl's old friends with that million dollar smile. I hate that million dollar smile.

Another thing you'll never believe! Me and Audrey are having a sleepover on Friday and then Saturday... me and Ian are going on a date! Well I still have to ask Luke but still! I tell you how the date goes. Bye!

Love,

Lidia White

Awwwwwwww. My baby's going on a date!!!!!!!! I'm so happy! Also, the realization that Ian's 16 and she's ALMOST 15 just dawned on me. Eh it's  ok. It was so much fun writing this chapter. I hope you liked it and don't forget to vote, comment, and obviously like :)